Brain Matter Chatter (BMC)
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© 2024 Brain Matter Chatter (BMC)
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Welcome to Brain Matter Chatter (BMC), the #AcademicMentalHealth podcast. Our mission is to raise awareness about issues surrounding mental health in Academia. As graduate students, at various stages, studying neuroscience, our hosts bring a unique experiential and scientific perspective to discussions on mental health and illness. To provide a holistic picture of mental health in academia, we aim to bring a diverse set of guests to BMC. Some of our episodes will serve to highlight the experiences of current graduate students. Others will invoke perspectives from our very own faculty advisors, mental health experts, and special guests who will add professional insights to the discussions. Conversations surrounding mental health can be difficult. With this podcast, we hope to make the conversations easier and more accessible. A podcast platform is personal, on-demand, and varies in degree of engagement; listeners can choose when and where they listen, suggest topics that they want to hear discussed, and even appear on episodes as guests. One episode at a time, we hope to begin planting the seeds for change. There isn’t a single, simple solution to the on-going state of mental health in academia. Cultivating a platform for open conversations about #AcademicMentalHealth is the first step.
14 Episodes
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TW: sexual harassment, power dynamics, traumaThere is an old joke amongst Eastern Asian immigrants: If we bring home a test score of 99, our dads will ask: where’s the other point? Due to various myths, stereotypes, and barriers, including the model minority myth and the bamboo ceiling, navigating the academic world, especially in STEM, with an Eastern Asian identity can sometimes feel complicated. In this episode, Dr. Kay Tye (@kaymtye), a neuroscientist and professor at UC San Diego, joins ...
In this episode, Ruby (@Ruby__Malik), and Julia (@juliasunstrum) chat with Andrea Hayward, Senior Associate at CACTUS Mental Health. We discuss the results of a recent global survey conducted on the state of mental health in academia. The survey included over 13 000 respondents in 169 countries. Andrea highlights common themes that impact the mental health of researchers and academics, including work-life balance, guilt to be productive, long work hours, and safety in the work environment.Co...
Academic women & family planning ft. Dr. Kasey Van Hedger & Dr. Alex LevineIn this episode, Niveen (@nivful), Hayley (@hayleyrcshanks) and Kyla (@kylaaalee) chat with Drs. Alex Levine and Kasey Van Hedger, both who completed PhDs in STEM and currently work at the University of Western Ontario in London, ON, Canada. We discuss their experiences in Academia with family planning and get two unique perspectives. Kasey and Alex detail their personal stories of how they got to their positio...
In this episode, Ruby (Host) and Olivia (Co-Host) chat with Ishita Aggarwal about her experiences as a South Asian woman. Ishita completed a master's in public health and is currently a medical student at Queen's University in Canada. Ishita is a member of the BIPOC Women's Health Network (WHN), an initiative led by a group of medical students who aim to provide healthcare resources and improve health experiences for racialized womxn in local Canadian communities.
Anxiety & anger series with Rob Hicks, PART III: becoming a parent in AcademiaIn this three-part series, Niveen (@nivful) and Julia (@juliasunstrum) chat with Rob Hicks, a PhD Candidate in Kinesiology & Neuroscience at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada), about his experience in Academia with gender stereotypes and mental health, expressing emotions other than anger, and panic attack/anxiety triggers and what to look out for. Rob details his personal story of becoming a new p...
Anxiety & anger series with Rob Hicks, PART II: practicing mindfulness. In this three-part series, Niveen (@nivful) and Julia (@juliasunstrum) chat with Rob Hicks, a PhD Candidate in Kinesiology & Neuroscience at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada), about his experience in Academia with gender stereotypes and mental health, expressing emotions other than anger, and panic attack/anxiety triggers and what to look out for. Rob details his personal story of becoming a new p...
1Anxiety & anger series with Rob Hicks, PART I: gender stereotypes & men’s mental healthIn this three-part series, Niveen (@nivful) and Julia (@juliasunstrum) chat with Rob Hicks, a PhD Candidate in Kinesiology & Neuroscience at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada), about his experience in Academia with gender stereotypes and mental health, expressing emotions other than anger, and panic attack/anxiety triggers and what to look out for. Rob details his personal story of bec...
Julia and Niveen chat with Dr. David Dozois, a Psychologist, Professor, and the Director of the Clinical Psychology Graduate Program at Western University, about the impact of social isolation on mental health. We also learn why some of us feel anxious about going back to our normal social lives and routines and what we can do to ease this transition. Dr. Dozois also shares some of his personal experiences in graduate school and gives some great advice for graduate students. Connec...
In part two of the exercise series, Hayley (Host) and Olivia (Co-Host) discuss the cognitive benefits of exercise with Joyla Furlano and Dr. Lindsay Nagamatsu. They touch on sex differences in response to exercise, exercise in aging and disease and exercise as medicine. Joyla is a fourth-year PhD candidate in Neuroscience at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry. She currently works in the Exercise, Mobility and Brain Health Laboratory at Western under the supervision of Dr. Lindsay N...
In part one of a two part series, Hayley (Host) and Olivia (Co-Host) discuss the health benefits of exercise, including the ability of exercise to boost mood. They delve into some of the neuroscience behind exercise’s beneficial impact on mood, and touch on tips for staying active as graduate students.
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content relating to eating disorders. In this episode, Ruby (Host) and Hayley (Co-Host) chat with Dr. Jaclyn Siegel about her experiences and research relating to eating disorders. Dr. Siegel completed her PhD at Western University in social psychology. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Scholar at San Diego State University in the Body Image, Sexuality, and Health Lab. Visit https://www.jaclynasiegel.com/ to discover more about her ...
In this episode, Michaela Kent, a PhD student in neuroscience, at Western University, joins Ruby and Julia for a discussion on Zoom fatigue. Michaela draws on her expertise in, and research on, virtual socialization to explain why Zoom fatigue leaves many of us feeling unmotivated and unfilled at the end of the day. As an international student, Michaela shares her experiences of being a "Zoom student" in the midst of the pandemic.
Mentor-mentee relationships are dynamic & often complex, especially when discussing mental health. In this episode, Dr. Melanie Anne Atkins, a mental health advocate and researcher & Acting Associate Director at Graduate Programs at the Center for Teaching & Learning at Western University, takes us through ways to establish expectations and a positive relationship on both ends. Additionally we chat about how to talk about mental health with a mentor/supervisor. Episode 1 highlight...
Welcome to the very first episode of Brain Matter Chatter (BMC). In this episode, the BMC team - Ruby, Niveen, Julia, Olivia, and Hayley - comes together to answer three big questions about the show.
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